diff --git a/Sources/SwiftCompilerPlugin/CompilerPlugin.swift b/Sources/SwiftCompilerPlugin/CompilerPlugin.swift
index 69766b44c73..c16a8390c85 100644
--- a/Sources/SwiftCompilerPlugin/CompilerPlugin.swift
+++ b/Sources/SwiftCompilerPlugin/CompilerPlugin.swift
@@ -198,7 +198,7 @@ internal struct PluginHostConnection: MessageConnection {
 
     // Decode the count.
     let count = header.withUnsafeBytes {
-      UInt64(littleEndian: $0.load(as: UInt64.self))
+      UInt64(littleEndian: $0.loadUnaligned(as: UInt64.self))
     }
     guard count >= 2 else {
       throw PluginMessageError.invalidPayloadSize